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Williams sisters have sights on No. 1
by Bill Fleischman
September 11, 21100
Knight-Ridder Tribune
NEW YORK -- Following Serena
Williams's loss to Lindsay Davenport
in the quarterfinals, the dethroned
U.S. Open women's champion warned
that all-Williams sisters finals in
Grand Slam tournaments are inevi
table. "Nobody's going to he able to
stop it, - Serena said.
While there was no all-Williams fi
nal at this Open, a Williams was rep
resented. Older sister Venus powered
past Davenport on Saturday night, 6-
4, 7-5, to gain her first Open title.
Last year, Serena was the Open
champion; this year, it's Venus. Get
used to their power tennis and their
winning smiles that light up stadiums.
They still haven't reached their peak.
When they are healthy, they will he
favored to reach tournament finals,
and will win many.
Third-seeded Venus took out top
seeded Martina Ilingis in the ()pen
semifinals. Then it was the second
seeded Davenport's turn to he worn
down by Venus.
When you dismiss the No. 1 and 2
seeds in the U.S. Open, place the tro
phy next to your Wimbledon trophy
from this summer, you should he ac
knowledged as the best female player
in the world. The Sanex WTA Tour
computer still lists Ilingis as No. 1,
but anyone with common sense
knows Venus is the best of 2000.
Chastain says she's ready
to play some soccer
by Mike Penner
September 11, 2000
Los Angeles Times
SYDNEY, Australia - For Brandi
Chastain, American icon in Austra
ha, the Olympic women's soccer
tournament represents a welcome
change in the conversation.
For the next two weeks, she can
discuss playing soccer Down Under,
after having spent the previous year
talking about what a soccer player
dons under.
For the record, for the t 5,347 th
time, it was a sports bra, Chastain
reminds. A jog bra. A workout bra.
No satin. No lace. Something you're
more likely to see in the pages of
Runner's World than a Victoria's Sc
cret catalog.
Shortly alter winning the 1999
Women's World Cup w ith her cli
mactic penalty kick and off-with
the-top celebration, Chastain was
riding in a cab through New York's
Central Park en route to a meeting
with her agent.
"In Central Park, people work out
in all different vai of attire,"
Chastain says. "I saw a vs °Man j(T
ging in her jog bra and so when I
got to my agent I said, 'Oh my God,
John, you must call the press.
There's a woman jogging in Central
Park in her jog bra. It must make
front page.'"
Chastain lati , Ths at her own joke.
"I mean. what's the big deaf?" she
says. "People have been doing it for
a long time
however, reacted as if
Chastain had posed nude in a na
tional magazine. Which, in fact, she
had, weeks before the World Cup,
wearing nothing but her soccer
boots while strategically cradling a
soccer ball.
Thai pro% oc at iN
caused hardly a ripple. Hui sh , q
of Chastain in a moment of unadul
terated jubilation, on' tier knees and
waving her jersey above her head
in the time-honored soccer tradition,
became the U.S. sports photo of
1999, splashed across the covers of
news magazines, replayed on tele
vision again and again, even spawn
ing national debate over whether
Chastain's jersey-tug was proper for
public display.
At last year's Junior Miss America
pageant, contestants were asked if
Chastain had set a negative example
for young girls with her goal cel
ebration.
- 0011,•• Chastain says, wincing,
`that was a tough one.. ,
"And I met one of those girls af-
Not only has Venus won more ma
jor t , )urnaments (two) than any other
player this year ( Ilingis is 0 for 2000),
she has a 26-match winning streak. If
she hadn't been injured earlier in the
Year. Venus would he acclaimed No.
- I've always felt like the best
player," Venus said after heating Dav
enport.
Well, not always. When the
unneeded Venus stunned the tennis
world in 1997 by marching to the
Open final, she now admits, "I didn't
know what I was doing, basically. ,,
Now, the more experienced Venus
can change strategy when she gets off
to a had start. Down 4- I
against Dav
enport in the first set, Venus realized,
"1 can't feed her like this: 1 was just
giving her the spoon, so 1 had to
change it up.,.
This k easier said than done. Most
top tennis players are programmed to
play a certain way. When that way
isn't working, they are usually vulner
able.
Not Venus. She broke Davenport
hack on the way to winning five con
secuti‘,e games and closing out the set.
The rattled Davenport, the 1998 Open
champion, double-faulted for 15-40
and then double-clutched again.
Davenport quickly regained her
poise to break Venus in the third game
of the second set. At 2-2, Venus fought
off four break points before deliver
ing an ace to lead. 3-2.
Both players held serve until the fi
ter. You know, they have to answer
the questions politically correct. I
mean, they don't answer the ques
tions how they truly feel. I think they
answer the question that could win
them the title. Whether that's right
Or wrong, I'm not here to judge on
that. So that was kind of odd.''
"In Central Park, people work out in all different varieties
of attire, ...I saw a woman jogging in her jog bra and so
when I got to niy agent I said, 'Oh my God, John,you must
call the press. There's a woman jogging in Central Park in
her jog bra. It must make front page.—
"And then 1 did finally meet her
and she didn't know it was me. 1 was
on some Fox interview show or
something and we start talking about
the soccer and I said, HOW about
that question'" And she made a com
ment and 1 said. 'That was me. 4 And
she was, like, 'Ooh. That was you?'
4 'l said, 'Don't worry, 1 don't care
what your comment was. I know
you're answering for the judges.' It
was a very loaded question. 1 think
her response was something like, 'I
wouldn't have done it. I don't think
it's appropriate.' All the right things
that she should have said for that
Still, Chastain delights in the fact
that one of her U.S. national team
mates, Tisha Venturini, was one of
the pageant judges.
"Tisha was a judge on that, so (the
contestant) probably got marked
down," Chastain says with a mis
chievous grin. "So it backfired on
her. didn'i it!''
I IIL Locomotion. in large part, was
simply the result of mainstream
America's unfamiliarity with inter
national soccer. Basketball players
don't regularly rip off their shirts af
ter scoring important baskets - Den
nis Rodman was the exception - but
you virtually can't watch a European
or Latin American soccer match
without seeing a frenzied goal
scorer ace the shirt as he performs
the lambada with the corner flag.
"Which ones haven't done it?"
Chastain says. "I think a lot them
do it. I think you see a lot of guys
pull up their shirts up with political
slogans (on undershirts) on their
chest.'.
Or even go further than that. Ear
lier this year, a male Iranian player
.i\p\r - rici\ - A1 c'T)r) Prrl'
_
nal game, when Davenport was bro
ken again.
"It was a nice victory," Venus said,
"because I feel like I played Lindsay
when she was playing some of her
best tennis, and I won the match."
After losing her third in a row to
Venus and fifth in their last six
matches, a disappointed Davenport
said, "She obviously covers the court
very well. A player like Arantxa
(Sanchez-Vicario) just gets it back,
where Venus runs it down and hits it
hard hack. You never know quite
what to do."
Venus has Davenport's vote as the
No. I player.
"She's definitely the No. 1 player
right now. She's played like it the last
few months," Davenport said.
With their success, Venus and
Serena now have the impact in ten
nis that Tiger Woods has in golf. As
always, Venus gave a thoughtful re
ply to a question about why more Af
rican-Americans aren't prominent in
tennis.
"We just aren't playing that much,"
she said. "We like basketball and foot
ball. Now we're more visible, so
hopefully it should he turning."
Sometimes Venus feels over
whelmed by the responsibility that
she and Serena have to attract more
people of color to tennis.
"I'm only one person. I'm only 20
years old," Venus said. "I can't tackle
a problem of race. I'm doing my best.
I'm doing what I can."
was fined $1,200 and suspended for
six months for celebrating a goal by
taking off his jersey ... and pulling
down his shorts.
"Somebody sent me an e-mail
about that and said, 'Brandi, I don't
think you need to go this far,'"
Chastain says with a laugh. "Don't
-Brandi Chastain
worry, I won't."
Chastain even caught flak from
some media critics for conspiring
with her sponsor, Nike, to turn her
goal celebration into a free adver
tisement, in front of millions of tele
vision viewers, for Nike sports bras.
Well, of course. Chastain and
Nike obviously knew that China
and the United States would play
120 minutes of scoreless soccer in
the World Cup final and the match
would go to penalty kicks and U.S.
keeper Brianna Scurry would save
one and the winning kick would
come down to the Americans' fifth
and final penalty taker and that
player would be Chastain.
Of course.
"I think people who are unedu
cated about the situation still bring
it up," Chastain says. "But that has
basically gone away."
But talk about being at the right
place at the right time with the right
left foot.
What if Chastain hadn't been fifth
in the penalty shootout lineup?
Suppose she had been fourth and
her successful kick had simply set
the stage for another teammate to
bury the winner.
How different would her life be
today?
"You know, I haven't really
thought about it," she says. "We all
would have shared in the same joy
and same spotlight that we did.
Maybe it would be a little different.
Of course, who knows what I would
have done if I had been fourth?
Maybe something as silly as I did. I
don't know. I don't think you can go
back and say, 'What if it had been?'
There's no reason to. It's only look
ing forward from here on out."
The path the Williams sisters have
taken to elite status in tennis is re
markable. They've gone from the
crime-infested streets of Compton,
Calif., to practice courts at their
Florida home. Their father, Richard,
purposely kept them out of junior
tournaments. In football, this would
be comparable to an NFL star just
practicing and not playing in high
school or college.
Venus has no plans to splurge with
her $BOO,OOO winner's check. She
does have her eye on a ring at a Sax
Fifth Avenue store in Florida.
"They never go on sale, - she said.
Forget sales: she can afford a couple
rings at full price.
Venus won't have time to relax and
enjoy her first Open championship.
She and Serena, along with Daven
port and Monica Seles, form the
United States Olympic team that will
compete in Australia.
If they bring back an Olympic gold
medal, look for Richard Williams to
dance again. Ile was last seen on the
Arthur Ashe Stadium court, celebrat
ing the third Grand Slam tournament
title in the tinnily. Nlanv more are to
An ecstatic Venus Williams holds
her championship trophy aloft af
ter defeating Lindsay Davenport in
the women's finals match at the
U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows,
Queens. The final score was 6-4,
7-5.
by Randy Harvey
Los Angeles Times
September I I, 2000
SYDNEY, Australia - On Sunday.
my first full day in Sydney, I was
drawn to the Ariel bookstore in the
Rocks section of the city by an
item on the weekend entertainment
page of the Sydney Morning
Herald.
" Free story-telling sessions
should keep the tykes amused tor
about an hour or so," it read. " Tori
Campbell tells the tales, bringing
Olympic-themed stories to life
with some audience participation.
Get there early as seats are
limited."
Arriving too early, I browsed
until I discovered " The Great
Olympic Swindle," a hook
detailing the International Olympic
Committee's corruption scandal
stemming from Salt Lake City's
bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
It was written by British
journalist Andrew Jennings, whose
previous book, " The Lords of the
Rings," was legitimized by the
1999 scandal, although he had
previously lost a libel suit brought
by the lOC in a home-court
decision in Switzerland. Yet,
displaying the resiliency that the
lOC admires so much in athletes,
he has come hack with another
book that amuses the lords even
less.
When I presented it to the
cashier, he glanced at the title and
said, " Lies, lies, lies."
" The book?" I said.
" No," he said. The Olympics."
I then went upstairs and sat on
the floor on brightly-colored
pillows with Emma, Nadia,
Rebecca, Justin, several other tykes
whose names I didn't catch and
assorted parents and grandparents.
We listened spellbound as Ms.
Campbell, who reminded me of
Glenda, the good witch in " The
Wizard of Oz," told stories about
the king who created a swimming
event in honor of a butterfly that
landed on his sullen daughter's
nose and made her laugh, the
friendly dragon who inspired the
torch relay with his fiery breath
and the tortoise who won the first
gold medal in a race with the hare.
Lies, lies, lies.
Sometimes, fairy tales
have sad endings
I had a much more relaxed time
Sunday than some of my colleagues
While I listened to children's
stories and toured the area around
the Sydney harbor on a glorious
spring -like afternoon, many reporters
were at the main press center, a
converted livestock exposition hall
On the city's outskirts, reporting
about drugs and rumors of drugs
The Chinese announced last week
that they had withdrawn 27 athletes
and 13 coaches from their Olympic
team, an unspecified number
because of offenses related to banned
performance-enhancing substances.
Two Canadian athletes and one
Czech have been expelled from their
teams after testing positive.
Also, Australian customs officials
are investigating an Uzbekistan track
and field coach whose luggage
contained several vials of human
growth hormone when he arrived at
the Sydney airport.
The White House recently released
a report estimating that as many as
80% of athletes in some Olympic
sports are drug cheats and criticized
the lOC for its lack of vigilance.
But the lOC's recently approved
tests for EPO, a drug that improves
endurance, are, despite questions
about their effectiveness, clearly
making some athletes nervous. Each
day brings news of a prominent
athlete or athletes withdrawing from
the Games because of health or
injury problems. Some no doubt are
legitimate; some probably are not.
In the 32 years since the 10C
began testing for drugs, this is one of
the few times that it has had athletes
on the run. I have not seen anything
like this since 1983 at the Pan
American Games in Caracas,
Venezuela, where a number of
athletes, mostly from the U.S. track
and field team, beat a quick retreat to
the airport when it was revealed that
organizers had imported state-of-the
art drug detection equipment from
Germany.
If this news from the drug front
were not reason enough for cyni
cism, another story receiving front
page attention here concerns the
lOC's battle with the Australian
government over a couple of
questionable sports officials who
have been barred from entering the
country.
lOC President Juan Antonio
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2000
KRT PHOTO BY HOWARD SIMMONS
Sports Commentary
Samaranch, who has gone to great
lengths to improve his scandal
scarred image, was, until he
surrendered Monday, defending a
Hong Kong basketball official,
who allegedly has links with
Chinese criminal organizations,
and a Uzhekistan boxing official,
who has been linked by the FBI to
alleged involvement in counterfeit
ing and cocaine smuggling.
The Wall Street Journal also
reports that the Olympic Intelli
gence Center here is monitoring
the activities of about 40 other "
undesirables," who were allowed
into the country in connection with
the Games.
Then there is the scandal that
will not go away. Organizers of
Stockholm, Sweden's failed hid for
the 2004 Summer Olympics -
Athens, Greece, won - released
dossiers last week that revealed the
peccadilloes of lOC members.
There are several references to "
scoundrels."
The good witch Glenda told us
the story of the tortoise and hare
and asked if we knew the moral.
"That you shouldn't make fun of
people because they're slow," said
6-year-old Nadia.
"OK, that's one," the storyteller
said. " Another is that slow and
steady wins the race. Just keep
going and just keep trying and you
might win a gold medal. A lot of
athletes do that."
Much later Sunday, I told of my
bookstore experience to a col
league. We talked about the
Olympics as seen through the
jaded eyes of journalists and the
Olympics as seen through the
innocent eyes of children.
" Which is the real Olympics?"
he said.
" Both, I guess," I said.
The Olympics reveal men and
women at their best as they aspire
to the highest levels in human
athletic achievement. They also
reveal the frailties of men and
women as they are overcome by
greed and ambition.
But, as the modern Games
embark upon another century, we
should be encouraged by our
persistence. Most of us, I am
convinced, keep trying to get it
right. Hope remains that some day,
like the tortoise, we will prevail.